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Oscar Mike Radio- Veterans Villages · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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Hello and welcome again to OM Radio.
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We're starting off in 2024. Fast OM on the move in mission.
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The missiles left the rail. It's already broken the sound
4:02
barrier. And I've got a packed show for
4:05
you tonight. Why is that?
4:07
Because one of the first shows we get to talk about is Veterans
4:11
Homelessness, Veterans Advocacy in the space.
4:14
And I have a group out of Philadelphia with the BBC Giving
4:19
Foundation. I want to welcome Jessica and
4:21
Dana to OM Radio. Ladies, thank you so much for
4:25
your time tonight. Thanks for having us.
4:28
Yes, thanks. So if you're watching this to
4:31
up, here is Jessica and over there, there is Dana.
4:35
Sorry about that. First of all, when it comes to
4:41
veterans homelessness, you always have somebody who's
4:44
interested in me. I think it's terrible that we
4:47
have to even say that in this country, but we do.
4:50
And you all have a very unique way that you're going about
4:53
tackling this. Before we get into that, who
4:56
wants to go 1st and kind of tell me a little bit about yourself,
5:00
your background, and then we'll kind of ask some questions about
5:03
how you got into this foundation and what you all do.
5:07
I'd love to defer to Dana first because she's she is the driving
5:12
force behind Veterans Village. So I respectfully defer to her,
5:19
and then very well, I'll follow her lead.
5:22
OK, OK well Travis, I guess first and foremost for your
5:28
audience, I did not have the honor and privilege of wearing
5:31
the uniform of the United States military.
5:33
I was what you would what Bugs Bunny would refer to as 4F, bad
5:38
hips, bad knees. So I started serving those who
5:42
served a couple decades ago both with the USO serving active
5:47
military and their families, and then later founded a small but
5:52
mighty homeless shelter called Haven for Women helping achieve
5:56
veteran empowerment. Now took over a defunct shelter
6:00
and redid it from the roof to the basement and everywhere in
6:05
between. And it was kind of a sorority
6:07
for ladies who were transitioning from homelessness
6:11
and preparing to live independently, sometimes for the
6:16
first time in years. And it was a very military
6:19
structured organization with merits and demerits and and
6:24
watch command and and and a structured schedule.
6:29
We took a mind, body and spirit approach to our ladies.
6:33
They did very, very hard work working on making good
6:36
decisions, leaving their bad decisions in the past.
6:39
And Veterans Village was spawned from Haven because as I was in
6:45
charge of Haven, I looked at all the leases that were coming
6:48
across my desk for our ladies who had worked so hard to put
6:53
their lives back together, potentially be reunited with
6:56
children that they may have lost in the system during their bad
6:59
decision making period and their homelessness or housing and
7:02
security. And government agencies were
7:05
throwing them into scattered sites in absolute squalor.
7:08
And so the cycle repeats itself. How can we put somebody into a
7:12
bad neighborhood in a building that is subpar with vermin,
7:17
mold, drug activity, and not expect them to start losing
7:21
their way and making bad decisions?
7:22
And then the cycle repeats itself.
7:24
I took one particular lease that didn't even include a
7:28
refrigerator and brought it to my dad, who was alive at the
7:32
time, an army vet from the Korean War era, and just said
7:35
dad, this is this is crazy. We're working hard, the ladies
7:38
are working so hard and it's just a a vicious cycle.
7:42
We all feel like we're banging our head against a bureaucracy
7:44
here. And he very squarely looked at
7:47
me and said two things. First of all, this is not your
7:49
first rodeo with a charity, and second of all, you build
7:52
buildings for a living. Why don't we build a building
7:54
and show the government how it's done?
7:57
OK, let's build a building. So our Family Foundation put in
8:00
the 1st $1,000,000 of seed money to put our money where our
8:03
mouths were. And the idea of Veterans Village
8:07
was born. In addition to it being new
8:09
construction, in addition to it being safe and resilient and
8:13
respectable housing, the village concept is really about the
8:17
camaraderie that's ever existed in the veteran community.
8:21
So that if somebody's having a bad day, one of the neighbors is
8:25
going to understand they may not have the same back story, but
8:28
they understand the process and what they may be dealing with
8:32
and can keep each other on a positive route to independent
8:36
living. And that's that's the village
8:38
concept and and here we are. So I couldn't do it alone.
8:42
I still can't do it alone. So I had to recruit absolute
8:45
rock stars, which segues nicely into Jessica Baker and why she's
8:49
on our board. Well.
8:50
Thank you so much for that, Dana.
8:51
And yeah, Jessica, you're up. Let's let's hear it.
8:55
All right, I I am a veteran, served in the US Navy through
8:59
P3's Naval Flight officer for eight years, then separated and
9:05
started a journey of construction, construction
9:07
management. So for the past 15 plus years
9:13
almost 20 have been doing construction and currently
9:16
serving as Chief Operations Officer for a general
9:20
contracting company here in the Bay Area.
9:23
I was introduced to Veterans Village and the and the
9:26
foundation via one of my alumni which is the Naval Academy went
9:32
back for a reunion and Hunter Jones, you know we just started
9:36
talking as you do with with the at alumni or reunions and he
9:41
told me about this wonderful organization that he was part of
9:43
the the Veterans Village Giving Foundation and with what they
9:48
were doing at the time trying to get the this first one the
9:52
Veterans Village there in Philadelphia online.
9:55
We he and I started talking about all the all the hurdles
9:57
that they had had to go through and I knew you know immediately
10:00
what they were struggling with at the time just given the
10:04
nature of construction, the nature of the base.
10:06
And he said you know I really think that you need to you know
10:08
if you'd be interested in in joining our board I'd love.
10:11
I would love to have you and it just, it was great.
10:15
I was looking for something really to kind of throw my
10:17
efforts behind something that I could really that I really
10:20
believed in And I could also bring something from my
10:23
knowledge base again, which is the construction industry and
10:27
how to get things built and nothing goes according to plan
10:30
and that's OK. It's how you manage those.
10:35
The things that get thrown at you, which which I do think is
10:37
is you know comes from my time in serving in the military.
10:42
There's a lot of hurry up and wait there's a lot of managing
10:45
expectations but it's also about getting the mission done and
10:49
that's the ultimate goal there. And so in the current role, you
10:53
know right now we're we're you know on a on a fundraising
10:57
campaign to finish out some of the tie up the loose ends from
11:00
the Veterans Village. And Dana correct me if I'm wrong
11:03
but I think we're close to 90% occupancy at the village and
11:08
with a with a only a handful of units left to go and A and a
11:12
waiting list for the you know for the one bedrooms.
11:15
So it's been a great success and you know the next project when
11:21
we we've identified a couple of sites that I can't wait to throw
11:25
you know some, some guidance behind that as we get into the
11:29
real you know construction efforts and development and and
11:33
just push for those for that next village and the next one,
11:35
the next one. So a couple of questions and
11:39
things come to mind. Hearing you all talk, let's talk
11:42
about some of the challenges. One of the things that I run to
11:45
a whole lot is, hey, I don't want, you know, a group of
11:49
homeless veterans or disadvantaged veterans living
11:52
next to my neighborhood. That's one.
11:55
The other one is, well, you know, we can give you this
11:58
housing. That is, let's be honest here,
12:01
it's pretty much derelict and just ready to be bulldozed.
12:04
But, you know, the, the permitting process to build
12:06
something new is going to be ponderous.
12:09
And then, you know, how do you, how do you get the veteran back
12:14
on their feet once you actually get them housed?
12:16
Those are all like, 3 main things I hear over and over and
12:20
over again. So let's just start with the
12:22
first one because you know I'm going through reading the
12:26
website and let me see if I get this right.
12:28
It's, it's the volumetric building companies and how you
12:32
all have addressed this. And saying to your point Dana,
12:35
we're going to build a structure, a, a home that is
12:39
going to meet the the veterans needs where they are better than
12:44
what they can find out there in the market.
12:46
But how do you find land to build on that people won't be
12:49
like, well, no, we don't want that bias.
12:53
We're not going to, you know, prove that.
12:54
How do you get around that hurdle first?
12:57
Well for this particular Veterans Village the upside was
13:01
it was a buy right piece of land.
13:02
It was vacant land but had already been zoned for multi
13:05
family. But we did meet with the
13:08
Neighborhood Association and the local redevelopment authority
13:12
and they certainly did have their concerns.
13:14
But as a builder and real estate developer and Jessica can echo
13:18
this sentiment. Nobody ever wants anything in
13:20
their background backyard. And if you let that stop you,
13:23
then you're not going to be in real estate or construction for
13:26
very long. The laws are the laws on the
13:29
books. Unfortunately, neighborhood
13:31
associations, RC OS, all of those people, they're not
13:34
elected officials and they get together and say, I don't want
13:37
any change in my neighborhood. I don't want any affordable
13:39
housing. I don't want any of this.
13:41
And sometimes it's a fight and sometimes it's a buy right piece
13:44
of land, which is what this particular one was.
13:48
And I will tell you, Travis, that for this we did the path of
13:52
least resistance as much as we could for Veterans Village,
13:55
Philadelphia, because we wanted to get it built and get it built
13:58
swiftly without red tape and bureaucracy, which means that we
14:03
did not take one dime of city, state or federal money.
14:07
We did not go after tax credits. Not to say that for future
14:10
villages we wouldn't, but it just adds layer upon layer upon
14:15
layer of difficulty and time consumption.
14:19
And for this particular we wanted to get it out of the
14:21
ground, open, welcome residents, move them in, provide them with
14:26
resources and then say TA dah, we know how to do it.
14:30
The other part is that we're an open source template, which
14:34
means that if other people, whether they're VSOS like minded
14:38
individuals, land owners, churches and and other religious
14:43
organizations, real estate developers, anybody who says I
14:47
have the the time money in volition, but I don't know how
14:50
to build a building, come on in, we're going to teach you how to
14:54
do the entire process and we'll put it under our flag if you'd
14:58
like us to. We'll teach you how to finance
15:00
it, how to raise money. But we cannot build our way out
15:05
of the homelessness and housing insecurity in our veterans
15:09
population by ourselves. So it's really important and one
15:13
of the the key reasons that we have a a Hunter Jones and a
15:16
Jessica Baker and one of our two of our other board members being
15:21
veterans, but not only veterans but in the affordable housing
15:24
and construction space, it is really to bring skill sets
15:27
together. To Jessica's point of We know
15:31
what the obstacles are going to be, and we're going to help not
15:33
only ourselves but other organizations overcome them so
15:37
that you're not subject to the brain damage in the dash 2 forms
15:41
and the hurry up and waits and all of that we'll we'll take the
15:44
hits for you. We know where our failures are.
15:46
We did a post mortem. We know what's coming down the
15:49
Pike in front of us and we're happy to share that information
15:52
with other organizations. So looking at the website and
15:56
it's bbcgivingfoundation.org, I'll have that in the Oscar
16:00
Micro Radio Show post. It goes into this whole aspect
16:05
of volumetric modular construction and and I was very
16:09
interested in that because OK, you you've gotten the approval
16:12
of build and now you're going to build it.
16:14
It looks like you can build a small spaces you need or you can
16:19
build as many units as you need, but it's all like put together
16:23
like Lego blocks to reduce cost and also increased ability.
16:28
Where did that idea come from? So I am a real estate
16:34
development. My big girl job on the for
16:36
profit side is that I build apartment buildings and I build
16:40
them using modular construction systems.
16:43
I've done sticks and bricks, I've done rehab and once I did
16:47
my first modular construction in 2016, it was a revelation of
16:54
just the ease of use and the efficiency, How environmentally
16:59
friendly it is, how energy efficient it.
17:02
I mean there's just so many reasons that I found to build
17:05
modular BBC giving Foundation was spawned out of BBC, which is
17:10
volumetric building companies, a global manufacturing of module
17:15
modular construction systems. We just recently decided that we
17:20
were going to rebrand the foundation not to be beholden to
17:27
the modular industry cause a lot of states are, are very peculiar
17:31
about modular still and a lot of people don't understand it.
17:34
They look at it and say modular that must be C boxes or flat
17:39
packs or you know subpar construction.
17:42
So we're really opening that up by changing the name of our
17:45
foundation, which we just filed paperwork to do to Veterans
17:48
Villages, which speaks directly to what we do and what we stand
17:52
for. And if somebody is a site
17:54
builder or somebody's coming to us and saying, look, I have like
17:59
a tunnel to towers just did with a with a hotel motel in Houston.
18:05
They just took it, gutted it, refurbed it and made it into a
18:10
type of village situation. Why not embrace all of the
18:15
possible villages regardless of how they're built?
18:18
Personally, I like the modular concept because it is ground up
18:23
new construction. It's not rehab, It's not finding
18:26
out what's behind those walls in a rehab that we may or may not
18:31
know what's behind there. It's also cost effective and
18:35
time efficient and it's resilient and and it's great for
18:40
communal living because of the sound attenuation and the energy
18:44
efficiency. I mean there's, you know, I can
18:46
go on and on and I won't, but that doesn't mean that Veterans
18:49
Villages needs to be sort of pigeonholed into modular.
18:54
Jessica, for example, is a site builder.
18:56
So you know her companies and her, the people that she works
19:01
with cross country, have expressed interest in being part
19:05
of our next village. I'm certainly not going to turn
19:08
them away because we build different systems, right,
19:10
Jessica? Absolutely.
19:13
So I think Danny, you hit the nail on the head when you said
19:15
it opens it up. I think that one of the things
19:17
that we're cognizant of is, is being able to streamline
19:21
efficiency and that's what you get, especially if you are able
19:24
to, if you're able to capitalize on the modular construction.
19:29
Now that takes a lot of hurdles too.
19:31
Like you just said, it has to, it has to do with what the site
19:34
will bear. Can we put these modular
19:36
components on the site first of all and does the jurisdiction
19:39
itself. Sometimes you do run into cities
19:41
and jurisdictions that want a little bit more with it when it
19:44
comes to the design aesthetics of the exteriors and hopefully
19:47
you know. But the best case scenario for
19:49
the foundation I think is to do a rinse and repeat because it
19:52
saves on the cost of the pre construction where you're not
19:54
having to hire a both mechanical engineering plumbing engineers
19:59
to reinvent the wheel on a new project.
20:01
When you have all of that engineering done up front, you
20:04
can take it and essentially but for a few modifications for this
20:08
for site particulars. Use the same floor plan, use the
20:11
same engineering and then completely redo the something
20:16
again and again and again. However, like Dana mentioned is
20:21
there are going to be, we are going to run into jurisdictions
20:24
and we're all going to also going to run into opportunities
20:26
like she just said with some of our you know people in the
20:30
industry that would prefer to build a traditional stick frame
20:34
or or otherwise. And so like she said, it just
20:37
opens the door up for other opportunities and just widens
20:41
that those that potential. So let's just say I'm I'm not in
20:46
Maine, but let's just say I go to Maine.
20:48
I I love Maine a lot. Northeast state cold in the
20:51
winter, beautiful in the summer and I get permission to build,
20:57
let's just say a site with 100 units on it.
21:01
What's my process if I come to you all and say, hey, you know
21:04
what? I've got the site, I have, you
21:07
know, my, here's my budget, here's my, you know, invested
21:11
capital that I have cash wise to, you know, fund this project.
21:16
What happens throughout the process?
21:21
But I would take a step back, Travis, and just and and just
21:24
say that there's a lot of well meaning people out in the world
21:30
thankfully and people who really care about our veterans.
21:33
The first thing I would do would be to do a needs assessment for
21:37
your particular location. And most of our veterans and the
21:42
veterans in need are in certain pockets of the US Not to say
21:47
that there aren't veterans in need in Maine.
21:49
So if we want to go with that hypothesis, we certainly can.
21:52
But I want to caution your audience.
21:54
You're like, oh, I want to build one in my neighborhood and it's
21:57
always a great idea, but what's the need?
21:59
And then beyond the need is the need for single men in studios
22:04
and one bedrooms. Is it female house, head of
22:07
household and their children for two and three bedroom?
22:09
Is it a mixed perimeter? Is it a perimeter that's female
22:13
or male? Only for TSD or MST issues.
22:18
So before you put a shovel on the ground, even if you have all
22:22
your permits, you really want to figure out what the need is and
22:26
then how your local Housing Authority or agency is going to
22:32
support that. Are there HUD Vash vouchers
22:35
available? Can you get a project based
22:36
voucher versus a personal based voucher for the veterans that
22:41
you're going to serve? And there's, you know, there's a
22:44
myriad of things. All of these little nuances are
22:48
why. To Jessica's point, this is a
22:50
rinse and repeat, right? We don't want people to start
22:53
getting into the morass and saying, well, there's what I can
22:56
I this is crazy. I can't figure my way out of
22:59
this box, so I'm not going to do it.
23:02
We would rather people come to us and have us, you know, hand
23:05
hold them through the process and say, did you think about
23:08
this? Have you thought about that?
23:10
Where's your cap stack for equity coming from?
23:12
How are you going to finance it? Are there tax credits available?
23:15
Are there grants available in your neighborhood from, you
23:19
know, from your municipality, from your local bank or
23:22
insurance companies? So there's a lot to get to the
23:25
starting line, but what we're at the starting line depending if
23:30
we're building it modular or site built, it's as just as if
23:35
we have a template. You know we we've already done
23:37
the soft costs. So we're going to save somebody
23:40
coming in and I say, OK, well we built a 47 unit, but we could
23:43
double that and have in 94 without just putting them next
23:50
to each other or going two stories up or whatever we're
23:52
going to do. We're going to save you 200,
23:54
three, $100,000 in soft costs just because we've already
23:58
designed and engineered the building.
24:01
So we don't talk you. Know, but that was a very long
24:02
answer and I don't know. No, no, no, no, no.
24:04
But because because there are good idea fairies out there that
24:08
you know, are waving their wands all over the place.
24:10
There are well mean people who you know can't understand like
24:13
myself, how we can even say that we have veterans homelessness.
24:17
So I think I like the idea and the aspect Dana that you got
24:21
really practical and down to earthly real quick And and you
24:26
know I appreciate that because it's not easy, there's a whole
24:30
lot of building you have to do. But what I would say is I'm
24:32
getting is it sounds like that you all really work to develop
24:36
relationship with that person or entity before you begin to
24:41
understand and execute the best way possible.
24:44
And that just it sounds like that comes from a lot of
24:47
experience with you both in your respective areas of operation.
24:52
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think that, you know
24:54
for me just because I've been doing it for so long, the
24:56
construction part comes. You know it construction is
25:01
never easy, but I am a little bit of a masquist and I do love
25:05
it. So once we get the go ahead and
25:07
we're able to put that shovel in the ground, Dana's right.
25:10
There are templates, whether it's a construction schedule for
25:13
modular building and whether it's a construction schedule for
25:17
traditional building. I think to me the hardest part
25:21
is putting the pieces of the puzzle together to in the within
25:25
the pre construction and the development phase to get all of
25:29
the approvals, to get all the funding because those are the
25:33
those are the pieces of the puzzle that make the project go.
25:38
Once you hit that point and you get all those all those pieces
25:40
in in the puzzle to fall into place, the starting gun goes off
25:44
and then that's when the general contractor takes over and our
25:48
mission is to deliver on time and on budget from there.
25:54
But to Dana's point, I think that the bigger thing maybe for
25:57
your audience is and anybody that might be interested in
26:00
getting involved is is to her point is you know what is the
26:03
problem that we're trying to solve.
26:05
Of course it's veterans you know veterans homelessness is what
26:07
we're we're we're struggling against and trying to solve you
26:11
know little by little 1 village at a time.
26:15
But it is really understanding what your community needs are
26:19
and how and then how can we reach out to people within those
26:23
communities for opportunities to to build.
26:29
I know in in in what I do and you know the private market
26:35
market rate oops sorry we've got Kitty cat here.
26:37
I love that the. Cat is right on the shelf.
26:42
That was awesome. Is is that there are you know
26:46
there are opportunities in my opinion to partner with what I
26:49
what we call market rate apartments.
26:51
You know there are there are for profit groups that that would
26:55
you know we still have a housing crisis I think I know we have a
26:59
housing crisis here in California that's where that's
27:01
where I am and I think that you know across the country there is
27:04
a housing crisis and I think to an earlier point we've gotten
27:07
here because of an element of Nimbyism but not in my backyard.
27:11
And so that doesn't go away, it just gets exacerbated.
27:15
And I know right now in California we are there are now
27:20
state mandates for all of these jurisdictions that have been so
27:22
slow to bring housing online that the each one of these
27:27
jurisdictions in cities and towns have mandates of you know
27:31
anywhere between 1000 units to I've seen upwards of 4000 units
27:35
by the year 20 thirty 2035 in some cases.
27:39
And so it's a real struggle. We haven't gotten here
27:42
overnight. It's been decades of not
27:44
building, creating unaffordable homes and I think that you know
27:49
overall if we start building and now so we're at this point where
27:52
we have to build affordable and build regular market rate
27:55
apartments. So I think that there's a
27:56
marriage that can happen between private developers and
28:00
affordable housing because there are certain mandates when you
28:04
are even building a market rate apartment of a private
28:09
apartment, market rate apartment building where you do have to
28:12
have an element of normally fit 10 to 15% affordable housing.
28:15
However, I have seen in certain one of the projects that we have
28:18
going on right now where there was an interesting partnership
28:21
between the teachers housing and the private developer and they
28:26
were able to bring, they're going to be able to bring on
28:29
upwards of 200 units for teacher housing groups.
28:33
And that was how the project went forward.
28:35
And I think that there is opportunity out there for
28:38
developers, for real estate developers that want to see
28:40
their projects go and may be looking for a partnership on OK,
28:45
how can we bring more affordable housing to the market with our,
28:51
with our project, with our development.
28:54
And I think there's an opportunity there for Veterans
28:56
Village to to help with that and and I think we achieve it's a
29:00
win, win situation for everybody.
29:02
So Speaking of the Veterans Village, that's the image behind
29:07
you right now, Dana, which it it looks pristine.
29:11
It looks like it it's not aged or run down.
29:15
It's it looks new. It has that very cool mural on
29:19
it. You'd recognize it anywhere if
29:21
you would tell us the story about that.
29:25
You know, what was it like being involved in that and seeing the
29:29
veterans get their keys to their homes?
29:33
Well, I have to tell you that the stories that are coming out
29:36
from our residents and we've had several group breakfasts and and
29:42
kind of a meet and greet with some of our board members.
29:45
And then we had Christmas in July where some of our residents
29:50
gave us a short list of things that they really needed to make
29:53
their apartment into a true home.
29:55
And we had two benefactors that came and fulfilled the entire
29:59
wish list and and met some of our of our terrific residents.
30:04
And I I say and I think that your audience will appreciate
30:07
this is that when we're talking to news media and we're and
30:10
we're talking to just Jack and Jill Q American, right.
30:15
They have a certain image in mind of what a homeless veteran
30:19
looks like, right? It's a guy of a certain age,
30:23
potentially on your street corner with a cardboard sign.
30:26
OK, somebody who came home from Vietnam and never figured it
30:29
out. OK, we have people living with
30:33
us who are 30 years old. We have people living with us
30:37
who are 73 years old. We have females living with us.
30:41
We have males living with us. We have people who have
30:43
families, people who don't have families.
30:46
I mean, it is really all across the board.
30:49
And although there is a common thread between stories of what
30:54
people saw, whether it was in theater or just in service, and
31:00
then they come home and they can't quite figure it out.
31:04
They've they've seen things that have broken them.
31:06
They've had things done to them that have broken them.
31:08
They start making self harm and bad decisions.
31:12
They slide down the addiction path there.
31:15
There's a disconnect between their family units because the
31:18
family units just don't understand.
31:20
There's a myriad of stories and when our residents tell these
31:24
stories and then the the denim of the story is but now I'm here
31:30
and I'm safe and I'm with my brothers and sisters and I'm
31:32
understood and I feel seen and I'm not living in squalor and I
31:38
don't have to worry about the lights not going on or not
31:41
having a warm blanket. I mean it's it we to a certain
31:45
extent, we generally, you know, Americans take for granted the
31:50
service of our veterans and what they've been through, but also
31:54
out the other side. I mean for a gentleman in his
31:58
early 70s to just be thankful to have a warm blanket and a coffee
32:03
maker and a place to lay his head at night and feel safe
32:08
after years of struggling through the system.
32:12
I mean it's just it's it's heartbreaking but at the same
32:15
time very rewarding for what we do to be able to provide that
32:19
this is, this is not homeless housing, this is independent
32:23
living. This is out the other side.
32:26
When people are ready to live independently and we have to
32:30
provide them with resources so that they don't end up housing
32:34
insecure and homeless again, that means that a safe, sober
32:38
environment, that means a structure to the environment and
32:41
that means us bringing in resources, although it's
32:44
independent living and we can't force anybody to do anything.
32:47
We have financial literacy courses.
32:50
We have a way for people to outfit their apartments through
32:53
our wish lists so that they're not living in a sterile box.
32:57
They can actually make a House of homes.
32:59
So it's it's a constant reinforcement, it's a constant
33:02
resources. But obviously all of that costs
33:05
money and we need for people in in the general public to join in
33:10
the mission to make sure that this pristine, beautiful
33:13
building stays maintained and in good repair and that our
33:16
residents have exactly what they need and where we we meet them
33:20
with those needs. So some people move in and they
33:23
have all furniture that they need, but some people are moving
33:26
out of transitional housing and they're literally coming in with
33:28
a trash bag and a toothbrush. So you know it it's a it's a big
33:33
lift, but it's a lift that we as a country have to do.
33:37
As my father used to say. He thought that veterans come
33:41
separating from the, you know, people separating from the
33:43
military got a really raw deal. That was his.
33:46
That was his assessment and his words mostly.
33:50
We do not see officers, we see enlisted.
33:54
They've just fallen through the cracks.
33:56
And then more recently, and this is from experience with my Haven
34:00
years, there are fewer and fewer people joining the military.
34:04
So the people in the military are doing more and more and more
34:06
tours, especially enlisted. And then they they you know who
34:12
knows what they say over and over and over again And then
34:15
they come home maybe not with physical maybe with physical
34:18
problems but certainly there's a mental health aspect to it that
34:23
we're that we're just not addressing and and the VA can
34:26
only do so much and and the private sector has to step up
34:31
and and help the process to Jessica's point if we're if we
34:34
can't if the VA is not going to build housing and they're not
34:37
and cities throw a lot of money around with homelessness and
34:41
housing and security but they don't build anything.
34:45
We need to build things, and we know how to build things, So
34:49
this is the template for how to get that done you.
34:53
Know Jessica? You you flew AP3 right.
34:57
So I mean I I so I'm I was I'm just Full disclosure I was a
35:03
radar operator for surface to air missile system.
35:07
So we we got the practice shooting planes like yours down.
35:11
Those were P threes were easy. Yeah, they were low and slow.
35:16
But still you got one thing that we learned in in in hawk school
35:20
was that plane could go through storms with no problem.
35:26
And I can't imagine what being on the controls of one of those
35:29
is like during a storm. What's it like going from that
35:34
and then serving in this sector where it's it's it's very
35:38
competitive, it's a very high mission tempo, even though it's
35:42
a civilian thing. You have to get done, you have
35:44
to deliver and you have to deliver on time all the time.
35:48
Are there any differences in your approach?
35:50
Is it? Does it feel any different at
35:51
all? It's it's interesting.
35:53
I was just having this conversation today with someone
35:57
about how there's so many parallels in the construction
35:59
industry, and I think that veterans, you know, would would
36:03
find a lot of what they leave behind.
36:08
I think that that's a lot of things that you know as a
36:10
veteran, and you probably feel the same that I get asked all
36:12
the time. Do you miss it?
36:14
And I and I do. But the most, the thing that I
36:16
miss the most is the camaraderie.
36:19
That being said, you know, I mentioned to my that I went back
36:21
and to my reunion, which is how I was introduced to the group.
36:24
And one of the things that I love about what I do is that I
36:27
say I feel very lucky because it feels like I get to go to a
36:30
squadron to go to work every day.
36:33
And it was for the reasons you just mentioned, is that there
36:38
is, first of all this, you know, great sense of purpose.
36:41
There's something new every day even, you know, for as much of
36:43
the rinse and repeat that I said, you know, no two projects,
36:46
I'm saying you always have something new that pops up and
36:49
it never ceases to surprise me that I'm like well, I didn't,
36:53
I've never experienced this before, but OK, we're going to
36:55
solve this problem and figure it out.
36:59
But there is that same element and like you said, you know
37:03
whether it's whether we're building a like I said a private
37:07
development or for market great apartment building or especially
37:13
now that you know I've been involved with Veterans Village
37:15
for over a year now. There is a mission, there is a
37:20
purpose and it's purpose driven and I love being a part of this.
37:25
I I really do. I think that you know to to
37:28
touch on. I think one of the things that
37:30
it's always that I always reflect on and I always go back
37:34
to like like Dana was saying is the security.
37:37
And if you just break it down in the simplest term to Maslow's
37:40
hierarchy of needs, you can't even get to that next level
37:45
unless your basic needs and that's being security or met and
37:50
that's what we're trying to do. It's not first housing like Dana
37:53
mentioned, it is, it is stable housing.
37:56
So that so that those people can take that next step, they can
38:01
flourish and they can achieve that next level.
38:06
So I I love that. I love that that thought there
38:09
and and that concept and just going to keep going and keep
38:14
going on that mission. You know, Dana, kind of focusing
38:17
on you for a second. You know, I welcome the
38:21
opportunity to talk to someone like yourself.
38:25
And the reason is, I talked to a lot of women who have and
38:30
operate in the same professional lane you do, very educated,
38:34
highly accomplished, involved in their community in, in several
38:38
different areas, whether they're a mother or not, they are the
38:41
community comes their child, by extension their family.
38:45
Right. And I get a lot of women asking
38:47
me, hey, you know, I have my my dad serve, my brother serve, my
38:52
uncle serve, and I want to serve veterans.
38:55
But either I don't know how to get started or I went down to
38:59
the VFW and some Vietnam Arab veteran tore me a new one.
39:03
Because you know what? Can you tell me that I don't
39:06
already know? You didn't serve.
39:08
And so I'm. I'm very, so I'm very leery
39:11
about doing this again. But I want to serve.
39:15
And so to see you serving like this kind of validates that
39:18
women, especially women who haven't served who are
39:20
civilians, can find purpose in veterans advocacy.
39:24
So my question is, what do you say to a woman who, who says
39:28
that to me? What should I say to her?
39:29
Because I try to say, hey, you know what?
39:32
Vietnam era veterans, God love them.
39:34
You know you have to love them and you have to show them that
39:37
you love them before they'll open up to you.
39:39
But that's coming from me, not from you.
39:42
So I was curious if you had any advice for me.
39:46
Well, what I'm going to tell you, Travis, is that I've never
39:50
really. I mean, obviously I'm a woman
39:52
and I'm proud to be one, but I've been in almost exclusively
39:58
male dominated industries. And I don't know, I'm just a
40:03
take no guff kind of person. So I don't really care you know
40:08
what gender you are. I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to
40:11
come in with my very, very strong opinions and and passion
40:15
and and zeal to get stuff done. And if you stand in my way, so
40:22
I'm going to tell you brief anecdote.
40:23
So I was sitting on the board of the USO and and obviously I have
40:28
not served and and there was always a hierarchy with almost
40:32
every veteran's charity or or or VSO in general, you're in a
40:38
board meeting and everybody refers to the highest rank in
40:41
the room. I don't really care because I
40:44
wasn't in the military. So if you're an Admiral and
40:46
you're still a moron, then, but that doesn't mean as much to me
40:51
as it may mean to you or other veterans in the room.
40:54
And I did, in fact, sit on a board where the Admiral was a
40:58
moron. So, you know, I had to raise my
41:00
hand and say, hey, that's delightful.
41:02
And you, I have no idea how you ran an entire battalion when you
41:05
can't run a board of 30 people sitting right in front of you.
41:08
But having said that, here's the goal, Here's the mission.
41:11
So I'm telling you this anecdote because a guy who became a very
41:15
close friend and then eventually became the director of that
41:19
chapter of the USO, he's, I think he's still now a
41:22
reservist, but he was a Navy SEAL.
41:24
And so he said we worked well together because he was a
41:27
precision sniper and I was scorched earth.
41:32
And that's why we that's why we worked well together.
41:34
Because if he couldn't get it done with pinpoint precision, I
41:37
would just come in with my, you know, even gonna just take
41:40
everybody out Twain. Thrower right not to.
41:42
Say that that's, you know, the best way to approach a new
41:45
board. But I will tell you that that's
41:47
been my experience. Most especially organizations
41:50
are completely dysfunctional and boards are completely
41:53
dysfunctional. You've got that 8020 rule where
41:56
at 20% of the board is doing 80% of the work.
42:00
And for anybody with a personality like mine or
42:02
Jessica's, we we have no tolerance for that.
42:05
So our board is very small. We're always looking for more
42:09
people to join our board. And I invite your audience,
42:11
we're a national board. We're from coast to coast from
42:14
Florida to the Northeast to California to here in Arizona.
42:17
So we're we're always looking for good board members, but it's
42:22
about accountability and it's about putting up or shutting it
42:25
up. It's goal oriented, it's task
42:27
oriented. And that didn't answer your
42:30
question. The answer to your question is I
42:32
wouldn't start at a VFW. The VFWS, although they do
42:36
really great work and there's ladies auxiliary groups within
42:39
most of those VFWS. They're for the ones that I've
42:43
had interaction with which are probably just a couple, 100 out
42:46
out of a couple thousand across the country.
42:48
They're pretty antiquated, right?
42:50
You have VSO's like in Philadelphia, the Veterans Multi
42:53
Service Center, they run a male perimeter and a women's
42:56
perimeter. They monitor all of the movement
42:59
of homeless and housing and secure veterans in tri-state
43:02
area, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
43:05
They do an amazing job. They have amazing volunteers.
43:08
They have amazing programs, but they're very nimble and they're
43:11
very modern. So what I would say to your to
43:15
females specifically or anybody who wants to get involved in
43:19
helping veterans in the veterans community, look to your regional
43:22
resources that are really on the cutting edge.
43:25
Not the VFWS and the American Legions because it's as great as
43:31
they are for camaraderie and A and a cold beer.
43:34
They're they're very, they're very mired in tradition, let's
43:42
say, not innovation. OK, fair enough.
43:46
Jessica, you have something to add to that?
43:49
No, I think, I think you I think that is probably a very, I think
43:52
they are good sources and good places like you said to go have
43:54
a cold beer but I think what we're trying to do but but or
43:59
the camaraderie part right, but I think that we're trying to
44:03
take that next step forward. So I would agree.
44:07
With what you just said, Speaking of next step forward,
44:09
like first of all, I'm on the website going through this and
44:12
I'm like this is like Lego blocks and I love Lego blocks
44:16
and I'm like, this is just amazing how these things come
44:18
together and I can't. Well, we can spend a whole
44:21
series on how this came to be because there's technical
44:25
aspects, building aspects, the regulatory, all that stuff.
44:29
So we haven't scratched the surface.
44:31
I I wish we had like a whole year for this.
44:33
I really do. You're at this point and you
44:37
have something behind you that you all have built.
44:41
What is next for veterans villages at this point?
44:44
Are are you trying to expand the different, you know, regional
44:49
areas, cities? Is it refining the process?
44:52
Is it, you know, getting efficiencies and and cost and
44:55
everything? What's What's the next thing
44:57
you're trying to to deal with as you move your organization
45:01
forward? Our first and foremost is to
45:04
stabilize Philadelphia and refinance it so that we can have
45:11
it be self-sustaining. Either fees for service plus
45:15
donations is ideal and then be able to focus our energies on
45:21
Veterans Village 2-3 and four. As Jessica mentioned, we've had,
45:26
we've had interest from all across the country.
45:28
It's really about what is what's the next logical project after
45:34
Philadelphia that might be California, could be Denver,
45:37
could be Chicago. We've had interest in Tucson.
45:39
We've had interest in Virginia. There's still interest in the
45:44
Northeast because there's a lot of veterans because of the joint
45:47
bases in New Jersey and two big bases in Pennsylvania and
45:51
Western Pennsylvania. So it really comes down to where
45:56
the need is and where we have boots on the ground and support
46:04
for the next building. Philadelphia was easy because I
46:07
was based there and my business was there and BBC was there.
46:11
And so we had eyes on the prize and boots on the ground the
46:13
entire time. Now that we have board members
46:17
across the country, it could be, could easily be in the Bay Area
46:21
and have Jessica and her support team oversee that.
46:25
It could be in Florida where we have another board member and
46:28
she could be the eyes on the prize.
46:30
What we don't want to do is build in a place where we can't
46:34
easily go and see the project coming to fruition or have our
46:40
supporters and people that we trust there to oversee the
46:44
project. Because to to Jessica's point
46:47
again, construction is filled with pitfalls, obstacles and and
46:52
A and a myriad of hiccups that arise.
46:54
And if you're not on top of it, it could go sideways.
46:57
So we're going to stabilize Philadelphia and then I believe
47:02
the universe is going to send us the next logical Veterans
47:05
Village Two. In the interim, if there's
47:08
another group out there who wants to build Build Veterans
47:10
Village 2 now, we are ready, willing and able to give them
47:14
information, insight and direction.
47:17
How can people get connected with the mission you all are
47:20
doing besides the obvious, is it simply the website gets started
47:24
there or is there another way you want them to interact with
47:27
you? Our new website
47:29
veteransvillagesplural.org. They can contact us for the
47:34
site. We're on all major social media
47:36
including LinkedIn and they can contact us directly.
47:40
We're not shy as you, as you can see, so they can contact us
47:45
directly. We're we're happy to have
47:48
conversations. We're looking for obviously
47:51
donations. We're looking for not only
47:54
donations for the current project, but also donations to
47:57
help furnish resident apartments with their their wish List
48:02
items. We're looking forward to and
48:04
Jessica's working very specifically on this future
48:07
construction partners who for example at this building Sango
48:12
Ban Salton Seed, which is a global company, they provided us
48:16
with all of the facade material doesn't seem well.
48:20
OK, well, what does that mean? Well, they saved us $140,000 in
48:23
construction costs by donating materials that they wanted to
48:27
market. It was a new product for them,
48:29
but also to be a part of this community.
48:32
Daltile same thing. They gave us tile for our
48:36
bathrooms because they wanted to be a part of this community.
48:39
We have plumbing contractors, HVAC contractors, lighting
48:43
fixtures. There's so many ways on the
48:46
construction side to get involved.
48:49
That might mean labor and materials rather than just
48:52
stroking a check. There's volunteer opportunities.
48:57
There's There's so many ways for people to get involved, not only
49:01
in the Philadelphia project, but future projects.
49:05
Fantastic. Fantastic.
49:06
So as we wind this down I I feel like I've been drinking out of a
49:10
fire hose and I love it. It's it's.
49:12
You're a. Marine you're supposed to drink
49:14
out of a fire. Well.
49:14
Well, I mean, I'm telling you, I mean just just throwing heat the
49:17
whole time. And I love it.
49:18
I love it because, you know, this is how you learn, right?
49:23
Do you ever see a time where we won't have to do this for
49:28
veterans in this country, where we will make sure that the
49:31
veterans actually taken care of? Is it is to me, is it a
49:34
combination of the demographic getting smaller because veterans
49:38
are aging out and that's the truth?
49:40
Or we finally wake up and say we're going to put, we're going
49:44
to truly put veterans first. I think that's what I, you know,
49:51
I I, you know I have you know we recently like I said we're on a
49:55
a you know fundraising campaign and I think the number of
49:58
current in the US number of homeless veterans as of this
50:01
past August is roughly just under 70,000 homeless veterans.
50:06
So I think that to it's a lofty goal to house all those 70,000
50:12
especially given other you know homelessness that we're facing
50:16
in the country. I think that it takes a lot.
50:19
I think that like I mentioned, it's it.
50:21
Everybody needs to lean in and do their part, whether it's
50:26
reaching out to communities. We touched on it in the
50:29
beginning and explaining to them having those community meetings
50:33
on why this village would be a great add to their community and
50:38
and and understanding their concerns about having an
50:41
affordable housing project in their backyard.
50:43
I think it's a matter of like Dana said earlier and you
50:49
touched on is that a lot of times the the the the military
50:54
does use you up. They shake your hand and say
50:56
good luck and thank you very much for your service and your
50:58
they send you on your way. So I think that it's it, it's
51:02
going to be a lot of different things that is going to have to
51:08
solve the issue of how someone who's a veteran becomes
51:14
homeless. It's not going to be one single
51:17
item and it's it's probably going to be you know our
51:20
military doing better on transitioning, finding those
51:25
people that are separating and becoming veterans guidance for
51:29
that next chapter in their life. I think it's bringing more
51:34
housing to the market, whether that's market rate apartments or
51:37
affordable housing. And like we were saying before,
51:42
I think one of the things that is really special about Veterans
51:45
Villages is that it does, it takes a village to the
51:54
camaraderie again that people find in these Veterans Village.
51:58
It's a common background. It's a common shared experience
52:02
that just goes so far and it it seems, you know, it seems like
52:06
it, it's not that big a deal. But as Dana said, you know when
52:09
you're having that bad day, you know you're sitting in the
52:12
common area room, you just pass somebody in the hall that has
52:14
that common and shared background and experience and
52:17
that makes all the difference. So one village at a time.
52:21
One village at a time, ladies. I mean, again, we can spend the
52:26
next two months just going over different aspects of this.
52:29
No, I'm, I'm, I'm serious because.
52:31
We'll come back, Travis, we'll. Yeah, we'll come back, we'll.
52:34
Come back? I'm going to hold you to that.
52:37
I promise you that because you know it's it's just refreshing
52:41
to see, you know new technology and new thoughts being brought
52:45
into this. I I love the synergy between
52:47
civilians and and veterans. You know you're a veteran,
52:50
Jessica and and you know, Dana, you know, to close this out,
52:55
your father did serve in the Korean War and you know, I I
52:58
wish we had more Korean War stories to listen to because
53:02
those were special men and and women who went over there.
53:06
You said your father had had had passed on, but do you think that
53:10
he's looking down at you right now, proud of what you're doing
53:13
for those who served our country?
53:15
Oh, absolutely. This is this is part of his let
53:19
me my father was a a very interesting man and a serial
53:23
entrepreneur and we we share, we shared that passion.
53:29
We also shared a birthday. So we were very like minded and
53:33
and of the same ilk he used to say, and I'm not going to
53:38
dispute this, although I think he was the company accountant.
53:41
He said that he was a spy, which is completely possible, but he
53:48
always fought for veterans and was always very proud that I was
53:52
serving the veteran community. We did a lot of communal and
53:56
community service together. We did welfare to work programs
54:00
and and and speaking engagements and and I started an animal
54:05
charity and my father was very big in the arts and he was
54:09
always very much about community.
54:10
But it came back to the fact that he felt that he got out and
54:16
as a CPA had sort of a path already paved for him.
54:22
He went on to do other things. He hated being a CPA but it was
54:25
a it was a foundation. So to Jessica's point when he
54:28
separated from the military he didn't need a whole bunch of
54:31
guidance because he was already on track to have a professional
54:35
life. But he always thought that that
54:38
separation that, you know, handshake and pat on the back
54:41
was not nearly enough to set people up from for success.
54:45
So he, his professional picture hangs proudly in Veterans
54:51
Village and his picture of him in uniform also hangs proudly in
54:56
our community room surrounded by sponsor plaques.
54:59
So I think he's he's very happy with this and wants to see it
55:03
replicated. Fantastic.
55:04
Fantastic. You know, Jessica, you go from
55:07
flying AP 3 Orion to doing this, this to me, the quintessential
55:12
military story. You know, how do you go from
55:13
doing one thing completely unrelated to your current job
55:17
now and doing it well, there's a lot to learn there.
55:19
And look, if if you guys come back, Blaze, come back.
55:22
Excuse me. If you ladies come back, we got
55:25
to have your cat back. The cats can be part of the show
55:28
somehow. I I.
55:29
Really. I mean, I mean.
55:31
She'll make an entrance. She's got a mind of her.
55:34
Own. I'm just saying, though, but
55:35
that that made my day. That made my.
55:37
Day. Oh, good.
55:39
So, ladies and gentlemen, you just have a lot of different
55:42
aspects of service here. Veterans Villages is a thing.
55:45
There's ways you can get involved.
55:47
There's a whole lot we can learn from the amazing of individuals
55:50
behind this organization. Dana and Jessica, thank you so
55:53
much for sharing your time with me.
55:55
You're coming back on. Just don't know when, but it
55:57
will be soon, as he's saying OM radio for mission flight.
56:01
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
56:04
Thank you so much. Thank you for listening and
56:07
watching OM Radio, where our active duty service members and
56:12
veterans are in action and the mission is in flight.
56:19
OM Radio is an oversized load Co since the one production.
56:25
If you are a veteran or know a veteran who needs help, please
56:29
dial 988 and press one for the Veterans Crisis Line.